Cistern filling up with water when pump is not running

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silverviper

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I moved into my house in 2006. The house was built in 1960. I believe ever since then the same pump has been used. The well is 297' deep.

I am in the process of hooking up to city water. When I moved in, the cistern always had a few inches of water in it (see attached file). That image is from 5 years ago. The last two weeks the pump itself has been making a strange spinning noise when it shuts off, also there is a gurgling/bubbling noise coming from the backside of the pump where the pump attaches to the well pipe casing. This noise happens about every 5 seconds. The cistern is now full of water up to the base of the pump and about to flow out over the cistern and into my basement.

I had a well driller look at it 6 months ago and I was informed the motor was shot on it. He told me the pump is a Z-packer? pumpjack. The bearings seemed to be going out on it, I ended up replacing the electric motor on it. I was given an estimate that it was roughly 40 - 50 years old.

The pump/well sits underground outside the house brick foundation. The cistern is very small and it is nearly impossible to do anything inside it unless you are a small child. The pump looks extremely heavy and I don't believe it could fit through the access area for removal. I believe it was installed from the top and lowered down.

If i'm switching over to city water, how can i keep this well from filling up the cistern on its own and coming home to a basement full of water? The unbelievable thing is that this happens when the pump is shut off. I have lived in this house for 8.5 years and i never encountered this problem before.

I thought of a radical idea of mixing bags of concrete into the water in the cistern to make a slurry mix and possibly seal it that way, however that seems a bit extreme. I am currently bucketing water out of the cistern daily, which takes approx. a half hour.

Geographically I live in a little subdivision, and I am the only person on a hill that is 33' higher than anybody else. I am one of eighteen houses. The rest of the houses are below me. Some houses are still on a well, some hooked up to the city water. I wouldn't think this is an artestian well based on how high I am compared to everyone else. I'm just a house on a little hill to myself.

Any ideas out there to stop this thing before I have a basement full of water?
 

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Craigpump

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If you were in Ct, the state regulations would require you to pull the equipment out of the well and properly abandon it before you hook up to the city water supply. Which is exactly what I would recommend, not only to prevent the pit from filling with water that is under artesian pressure, but also to protect the aquifer from surface water contamination.
 

Valveman

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I don’t know why anyone with a perfectly good well would hook up to city water. You are relinquishing your freedom and are now dependant on a government entity to supply you water. What happens when they decide they want more tax money? What happens when they decide they want your property? At a whim they can now shut off your water and have complete control over your existence.

Not only do you have a good well but, apparently the water just keeps coming into your cistern even without being pumped. That part doesn’t make sense to me unless you have an Artesian well or a city water line is already cross-connected to your water system somehow. Either way you might not want to look a gift horse in the mouth.
 

Smooky

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Since you are on a hill why don’t you just put a drain pipe in or French drain to drain it off to the side. I would not destroy the well, there might come a time where you could use it for irrigation etc.
Instead of the water coming in from the pump it might just be surface water leaking into the pump pit.
 
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